From the frozen north, across the great steppe, the Commonwealth stands as a grand confederation of Russia, Mongolia and Poland-Lithuania: disparate nations united in fealty to Tsar Vladimir Rurik-Novy. Through ports in the Baltic, Black, and Caspian Seas, the White Navy projects the might of the Tsar and the will of his people across the world's oceans. Though often dismissed as technologically backward and unsophisticated, the Great Powers should be wary of its wrath, lest they provoke a withering storm of hyper-velocity projectiles even as their fighting vessels freeze solid beneath them.
You can find the reinforcements for your budding Commonwealth fleet for Dystopian Wars that are mentioned in this blog at your FLGS or online today.
How the Commonwealth Plays
The extreme-range weaponry and durability of Commonwealth units favours long-ranged slugging matches. The number of units you can bring to a fight, combined with the prevalence of the Ablative Armour (X) property on most Commonwealth units, gives your forces the staying power to outlast your opponents in these long-range exchanges of fire.
Should an enemy survive long enough to close the gap, most Commonwealth surface vessels come with the Ramming Prow (X) property, allowing them to slam into anyone foolish enough to put themselves in your Fore arc. An upgrade to a Semyenov Assault Bore, available to your Norilsk Heavy Cruisers and Sineus Fast Cruisers, can make this tactic even more devastating to your hapless foe.
The Commonwealth's playstyle rewards Admirals who can combine their different weapon types to create impressive dice pools with potent weapon qualities. Rail (X), for example, allows Exploding Strikes to cause two extra dice to be rolled instead of one. Whilst weapons with this quality generally have low firepower values, combining a few of these guns with more conventional batteries can prove to be a frightening combination. With the Commonwealth, it pays to diversify your armaments. The recent update to the Commonwealth range brings an all new Heavy Railgun option, providing you with an even more potent option for sending your enemies to the bottom of the sea
The most signature piece of equipment in the Commonwealth armoury, however, is undoubtedly the Cryo Generator, which can disrupt enemy formations by freezing the very ocean around them. These massive hunks of ice, known as Cryo-Shards, can be represented in your games using a set of printable templates that you can now find at the back of your ORBAT. While an opponent might have little difficulty dispatching a small Cryo-Shard, the sheer number and potential size of these floating ice blocks will force your opponent to move how you want them to or pay the price.
Many of the core Commonwealth surface vessels can have either the Russian, Polish-Lithuanian, or Ukrainian subfaction traits—a choice that allows you to represent the broad array of Commonwealth naval forces, while also opening up new synergies with your different Fleet Doctrines.
Your Airborne and Underwater units, in comparison, are far more specialised, with each having a clear role in your Force. The Khyzan Attack Submarine, for example, can make Boarding actions whilst submerged—useful for making a nuisance of themselves from hiding! The Overthrusters (X") system, meanwhile, allows your Polish-Lithuanian fliers and ekranoplans to resist more damage than they normally would, even as they hurtle at breakneck speed towards their unready foe.
Battlefleets
At the heart of most Commonwealth forces lies the Commonwealth Faction Battlefleet. This flexible grouping gives you a broad array of choices for deciding how to theme your fleet, especially as certain Flagship choices grant different Mainstay options. Life is cheap in the Commonwealth, and the Acceptable Losses battlefleet bonus gives you the opportunity to deny your opponent the victory points they might have earned for crippling your models. Alternatively, you might choose to command the fearsome Black Wolf Hunting Pack, led by none other than Vladymyr Nikanov and Anastasia Rurik-Novy themselves. Its Battlefleet Bonus, Wolves Upon the Fold, allows Black Wolf units to reap a heavy toll on units that are already suffering the effects of Disorder.
Supplementing these options are a number of new Specialist Battlefleets that allow you to hone your strategies even further. The Orlan-Belokhvost Battlefleet is perfect for hovercraft and ekranoplan lovers. Its Battlefleet Bonus, The White Death, allows you to quickly replenish the munitions of powerful, but limited weapons such as the Katyusha Salvo, meaning more time spent raining rockets down upon your enemy. If you would rather lean into the Commonwealth’s more esoteric arsenal, the Icemaker Battlefleet might be for you. It maximises your Cryo Generators with the Advanced Cryo-Capacitors battlefleet bonus, allowing your units to pepper the play area with Cryo-Shars without eating into the number of other actions they can perform.
And who doesn't love towering Vitruvian figures that rise from the depths to unleash blasts of freezing energy? Not us, that’s for sure! The Svyatogor Colossi Battlefleet can take up to FOUR units of these awesome giants, each of which can boost the damage output of your nearby frigates and destroyers through its The Giant's Breath battlefleet bonus.
Alternatively, the Haydamak Battlefleet is perfect for expanding your Underwater contingent, its Zaporozhian Spirit battlefleet bonus allowing any Ukrainian units to shrug off the effects of Disorder when making an attack. Moving from the sea to the sky, the Skyhost Battlefleet allows you to include an impressive number of Airborne units, and can be of a distinctly Russian or Polish-Lithuanian flavour depending on the Flagship you choose to lead them. Its Terrors from Above battlefleet bonus can be used to bring your Airborne units into the fight even more quickly, catching your enemies’ vessels out of position and unable to react.
Small Scale (1000 point) list
This force makes the most of the new Commonwealth Starter Set by focussing on Polish-Lithuanian Surface units. It plays into the Commonwealth's strength in ramming, especially with the Hammer Sweep fleet doctrine, which allows those pesky Crew Checks to be ignored at the cost of discarding a Card—perfect for smashing your vessels straight into any enemies that get too close!
Medium Scale (2000 point) list
Drawing on a distinctly Ukrainian theme, this force relies on large numbers of Underwater units to sow terror amongst the enemy fleet. The Kosolov Shockwave Generator on the two Rurik Frigates attached to the Arkhangel Command Cruiser pair particularly well with the Wolves Upon the Fold battlefleet bonus. The Generators have the potential to place a hefty level of disorder onto their targets, greatly enhancing any follow-up attacks by your Black Wolf units. The Zaporozhian Spirit battlefleet bonus, provided by the Haydamak Battlefleet, also means that your Ukrainian units can better manage their own Disorder levels, particularly if the Akula Grand Submarine is providing a positive Crew Rating bonus thanks to the Hetman of the Seas fleet doctrine.
Large Scale (3000 point) list
This veritable armada uses brute force and impressively large vessels to bludgeon enemy ships into submission, all the while debilitating them with Critical Damage effects from your Cryo Generators, Yak Hovercrafts and Szpada Fighters. The Khodynka and Tunguskas are useful for Marking targets, thanks to the Tracer quality of their weapons. This allows you to set up devastating one-two knockouts, with the two Borridino Battleships providing the heavy firepower needed to finish off stricken enemy models.
Closing Thoughts
Commonwealth units can absorb a lot of punishment. At the same time, the faction’s armaments allow your units to inflict terrifying extreme range damage before closing in for the kill with boarding actions, broadsides, and ramming drills. Changes from the previous ORBAT, where they have been made, are to improve the usefulness of your Cryo Generators, tracer rounds and overthruster engines, with the aim of letting these signature features shine during your games. Rest assured, this refresh gives both veteran players and those new to Dystopian Wars a wealth of strategies to secure victory in the name of the Tsar!
Explore the latest Commonwealth releases online or at your FLGS. None nearby? Get your LGS to contact tradesales@occamdistribution.com to discuss stocking Warcradle Studios!
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